


Under Your Spell

by shcherbatskayas



Category: Dangan Ronpa, Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Dangan Ronpa 3: The End of 希望ヶ峰学園 | The End of Kibougamine Gakuen | End of Hope's Peak High School, Super Dangan Ronpa 2
Genre: Bars and Pubs, But it's not cute and also not supposed to be?????, F/F, Meme Queen Natsumi Kuzuryuu, Theft, Valentine's Day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-14
Updated: 2017-02-14
Packaged: 2018-09-24 06:40:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,397
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9708788
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shcherbatskayas/pseuds/shcherbatskayas
Summary: Or, the Queen of Liars is seduced.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [cheinsaw](https://archiveofourown.org/users/cheinsaw/gifts).



> For jan and hanna, the number one natceles shippers! and literally the only people I know own who ship this. also it's not letting me put hanna's thing in the gift tag bc life. anyways, happy valentine's day (or kathryn howard mourning day) and also thanks to ramix for betaing this!

Valentine’s Day, Celestia thinks between sips of whatever fruity drink her catch of the hour bought her, is for suckers. All of these dumb people were out and about, trying to get drunk off their asses to forget their own loneliness, and not one of them saw the fact that she was conning them. They honestly thought she was lonely and in need of their company, which was a laugh. Celestia Ludenberg? _Lonely_? She was young and beautiful and infinitely clever. She wasn’t _lonely_.

(Not unless three, four, five a.m. counted, when the scams of the night were through and she was left counting her cash in an empty townhouse where the floorboards creaked and the bathroom was always cold and she was the only person around for what felt like miles. But that didn’t count.) 

Tonight, the scam’s easy. Go into a bar. Find the richest looking man in said bar. Sweet talk him, maybe let him buy her a few drinks, steal his wallet, and then run. After that, it was off to an ATM where the camera had been broken for three weeks, drain whatever cards she could guess the pin numbers for, and then go on to the next one. It was boring, but it was easy money and Celestia needed easy money. Rent was due soon and she needed a new econ textbook and her cat needed food and she had yet to hear back from any of the places she applied to for an actual legal job. Sure, stealing was wrong, but morality was second to survival, now and forever. 

She’s halfway into getting this sucker’s wallet when her attention is drawn to the other side of the bar. There’s hooting and hollering and she’s certain that when she looks over, she’ll see something absolutely barbaric and disgusting, just like it always is.

Celestia strains her neck to see what all the chaos is about and once she sees, she understands. This bar is one of the cheesy ones with a mechanical bull and for most of the night, Celestia’s been studiously ignoring it but now she’s looking. So have most people, but now _everyone’s_ looking. 

Riding on the bull is a girl with blonde hair and a glint in her eyes that makes Celestia think of fire and danger and a poker game gone wrong. Her thighs are tan and toned and cling to the machinery like they were made to do so. Her shorts are too short for the weather, her shirt too low cut, and Celestia almost worries that the girl is going to get frostbite. There’s a thin sheen of sweat on her neck and if she squints, Celestia can see the outline of a butterfly knife in the girl’s pocket and a wallet that almost certainly isn’t hers. The strobe lights pass over her, show off the glitter in her hair and the smirk on her face as she moves back and forth. For a second, like everyone else, Celestia is too enraptured in this girl and how she moves to realize exactly what it is. 

“My god.” She mutters, taking another sip of her drink. “She’s…”

A genius is what Celestia wants to say. An absolute genius. It’s a great tactic for a con, and Celestia knows that this girl is a con artist. She employs a brilliant yet simple strategy, easier than the one Celestia uses. Get everyone’s attention. Make it clear that she’s the best without even having to speak. Find the richest person in the room. Pretend to grace them with her presence. Get the wallet. Run onto the next one. People would sometimes avoid Celestia because she always sat at the bar, always was looking, and some people could tell who and what she was. No one would suspect this girl of doing anything but having fun, and her stint on the bull allowed her not have to worry about charming anyone individually. Everyone is looking at the girl, but no one but Celestia seems to actually _see_ her. Celestia sees those eyes, green and calculating and full of fire that are so different from and yet so similar to her own gaze. Celestia sees and dearly wishes that she didn’t.

“She’s nothing compared to you.” Celestia’s companion croons, and she pretends to be flattered. 

As Celestia goes through her normal motions, she can’t help but look over at the girl. The song she’s riding to is loud and has too much bass for her liking. It echoes in Celestia’s ears, makes it hard to think about anything but the beat and the girl moving to it across the room, but she continues on with her con. The girl dismounts to wild applause and makes her way across the room, snatching two wallets and a purse along the way and, to Celestia’s amazement, sits down right next to her. 

“Heyyyyyy!” She greets, pretending to be far more drunk than she actually is and slinging an arm over Celestia’s shoulder. “How’s my best friend, hm? Who’s this catch?”

“I’m Herbert.” The man introduces, and this blonde stranger gives a smirk that makes Celestia shiver. 

“Herrrrrrrrrrrrberttttttttttttttt.” She drawls, giggling before tossing her hair and beckoning the bartender. “You’re good, bud? You know, we gotta get home soon, or else our RA’s gonna be _pissed_!”

“Just a few more minutes, please.” Celestia asks politely, and the stranger nods before turning her attention to the bartender. Throughout the rest of the con, of the mess of kissing this man like she means it and taking the wallet and trying not to puke, she can’t stop thinking of the girl next to her and what she wants. 

“I really do have to go, I’m afraid.” She says to Herbert, who nods and looks sad until Celestia says “Call me later?”

“I will.” He promises, winking in a way that makes Celestia want to recoil but instead, she laughs and gets up. The blonde follows her, clinging on to her arm and chattering on about some fake college until they exit. The specifics of the lie don’t interest Celestia, but what gets her is that confident, charming tone that sounds so genuine and truthful that anyone would think was the truth if they didn’t know better. Celestia knows better, knows that she should just get away from this girl before she can take her money and her livelihood and her life, but the grip on her arm reminds Celestia that she doesn't have much of a choice.

Once they’re out of the bar, the girl drops the facade. “So, nice wallet.” She says, going from clinging to Celestia’s arm like she’s drunk to all but dragging her down the street. 

“The same to you. How many did you collect, may I ask?” Celestia raises an eyebrow and tries to guess this girl’s endgame. 

“Three. And you got one, huh?” The tone she uses is borderline insulting, but Celestia nods. 

“He was a fair bit richer than the ones you went for, though.” She reminds, and the stranger sighs. 

“Yeah, I know, sweetheart. I have eyes. But you see, that’s part of my plan!” They stop in front of a bench in a bus stop and sit down. “I always have a plan and you’re now officially part of it.”

“So you have a plan. Nice to know. Do you have a name?” Celestia asks. 

“I do. Natsumi Kuzuryuu, pleased to meet’cha. And you are…?” She raises her eyebrows, half of a smirk on her face, and holds out a hand. Celestia shakes it without even thinking. Despite the February chill and the clothes that are barely there, this girl’s skin is fire-hot and silky smooth and Celestia works to resist the urge to touch more, to see if the rest of her feels the same.

“Celestia Ludenberg.” She introduces. “The pleasure is mine as well. And may I ask what this plan is?”

“You certainly may ask.” Natsumi teases, laughing when Celestia rolls her eyes. It’s a loud and fearless laugh, one that scares off the nearby birds and causes the man sleeping on the other end of the bench to startle from his sleep. He scurries away when Natsumi flashes her butterfly knife, a pink and sparkly thing that she clearly knows how to use, and barks at him to get the fuck out of there before she ruins her pretty new knife with his old, rotting blood.

“What is this plan?” She asks, her voice perfectly deadpan which makes Natsumi laugh again. 

“You see, I know who you are.” Natsumi says, running her hands through her hair to catch some of the stray glitter. “I’ve seen you around a few times. You’re a thief, and a damn good one in my humble opinion. And I don’t go around handing out compliments, you know. Treasure that one. Anyways, you’re good with the richy-rich. Way too good. I see you coming out of those casinos uptown, girl. I saw you with that guy tonight. You work them like clay, don’t you? They’re puddy in your pretty little hands. And your hands are really pretty, like holy shit. What hand cream do you use?”

Natsumi takes her hand as if investigating it and Celestia frowns, unsure what to make of this girl. She was strange and bold and clever, beautiful and young and obviously lethal. Her gut was telling her to run, to get as far away from this girl as she could because she knew too much, but something keeps Celestia rooted to her spot. 

“Shea Cashmere.” Celestia answers. “And exactly where are you going with this?”

“No way, I was a model for Shea Cashmere! My hands are probably on the bottle.” Natsumi lets go of Celestia’s hand and holds out one of her own for investigation. The other stays in her pocket, loosely gripping the knife in a subtle threat that Celestia understands. “And you see, I’m not great with those guys, but I can work a crowd of average working Joes, no problem. I can get four wallets in the amount of time it takes you to get one, but with that one, you’re probably making three or four times what I am. So what I’m proposing is a business partnership. We both work our respective circuits, meet up at the end of the night, split the profits, and go on our separate ways. We’ll both make more money that way than we will on our own and have some job security to boot. I heard people are into that. What do you say?”

Celestia thinks the offer over, tilting her head to the side. More money was always good and a refusal could get her turned into the police as vengeance at best and murdered in an alley at worst. Furthermore, this girl was talented. She was smart, she was confident, and Celestia knew enough about amateurs to know that her confidence came from a place of genuine experience. This was someone to be friends with. “I think it could be a profitable arrangement.” 

“Sweet! So, I work weekends, Friday nights, dumb holidays like Valentine’s and St. Patrick’s and all the ones you don’t spend with family--my brother would have a stroke if I missed Christmas, and I’m not dealing with that the day after--and also on Thursdays. You?” Natsumi stretches out on the bench, more than happy to make herself comfortable as she waits for Celestia’s answer. 

“My schedule is similar. Weekends, Friday nights, holidays, and Wednesdays.” She says, and Natsumi nods. 

“Cool! That works. Now, I’m kind of a little drunk, so if I start making super detailed plans now, I’m gonna forget them and it’ll be embarrassing as shit. But if you give me your number, we can work to find a place to meet up and come up with all that shit, yeah?” She suggests, taking out her phone and handing it to Celestia. 

After considering it for a moment, Celestia types in her number before getting out her own cellphone and handing it to Natsumi, who does the same in turn and gives herself the ridiculous contact name of _exactly nineteen (19) apathetic bagels_ , which manages to make Celestia giggle on the absurdity factor alone. 

“I will be certain to text you bright and early in the--”

“NO YOU WON’T!” Natsumi interrupts. “Text me before noon and I swear to god, I’ll stick an entire cactus covered in even smaller cactuses directly up your ass.”

“Kinky.” Celestia comments and Natsumi looks torn between laughing and screaming as she hails a taxi. The taxi stops and Natsumi climbs in, gesturing for Celestia to come closer. She stops right outside of the door and Natsumi grabs Celestia where her shoulder meets her neck and pulls her close to the taxi so that she’s whispering right in her ear. 

“I think.” Natsumi says, her voice honey sweet and smooth and practically poisonous. “That this will be a most beneficial partnership, Celesie. For both of us.”

Natsumi exhales, her breath warm against Celestia’s cheeks and she laughs, that same laugh that both comforts and terrifies. This would be a dangerous enemy, Celestia thinks. This is a dangerous ally. This is dangerous, full stop, but Celestia’s life has always been dangerous. This should be no exception. This _is_ no exception.

“Yes. Yes, I quite agree.” Celestia says, her voice weaker than she would like it, and Natsumi lets go of her.

“Good. Now have a good night, princess!” She calls out as the taxi drives away. Celestia stays at that bus stop that has long been closed and watches her leave before turning towards the nearest bar. There’s still work to do, but she can’t persuade herself to actually do it.

Celestia walks in, sits down, orders herself something strong, and drinks it all in one gulp. She isn’t foolish enough to believe in love at first sight, Valentine’s Day or not, but she knows that this will end somewhere, that this will be something, and that it was too late for her from the time she walked into the bar with the mechanical bull and dumb, bloated Herbert. She was damned from then on, or maybe even earlier. She was damned the first time Natsumi Kuzuryuu saw her, but somehow, Celestia didn’t mind. Maybe she’s the sucker after all.


End file.
